April 30 is the deadline for public comments on proposed mixed-use development

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The city’s Planning Department is accepting public comment until April 30 on HK3 Development Co.’s application for a three-story, mixed-use building in the empty lot on the southwest corner of Castro Way and 24th Street.

UPDATE: The comment period has been extended to April 30. Comments may be send to Assistant Planner Armando Lopez Jr. in the Planning Division at 300 Richards Blvd.See Sac Community Development Tracker

The 13,352-square-foot building, which would be across the street from the 24th Street Theatre, would include 14 residential units over 3,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

The developer sent the plans to SCNA for review and comment. The Neighborhood Concerns Committee has recommended that the SCNA board send a letter of opposition to the project as currently designed. Committee members favored a mixed-use building, but were concerned that the proposed scale and design of the project were unsuited to the site.

The lot is at the gateway from downtown to the neighborhood and flanks the historic landmark Sierra 2 Center. The matter is on the agenda for the April 1 SCNA board meeting.

The site is zoned C-1, which would limit the project to six residential units. However, the developer seems to believe that more units might be allowed because of a provision in the city’s general plan concerning mixed-use developments.

City senior planner Marcus Adams, who is supervising the city’s review, wrote in an email to Viewpoint that “at the density proposed, 14 units, the project would require a zoning or general plan amendment, which ultimately would need City Council approval after a planning commission recommendation.”

Adams said he is in discussions with a representative of HK3 about whether he wants to proceed with the project as proposed or modify the project to comply with C-1 zoning. “If he were to reduce the amount of units and change the use of the area from residential to commercial, he conceivably could move forward with the same building if it met all other required development standards,” Adams wrote.

Architectural drawings of the project by Ellis Architects were posted on the independent Facebook page Curtis Park News on March 13. The post generated more than 1,500 page views, 36 comments, 13 “likes” and three shares. Criticism of the project focused on three areas: that the three-story project was too big for the location; that the modern architectural style was out of character with the neighborhood; and that the project lacked sufficient parking.

HK3 Development’s website says the firm is owned and operated by Sacramento natives, building “dynamic, high-quality infill development projects throughout Sacramento. We believe that by providing more housing, and more adaptive reuse projects throughout the city, we will continue to grow Sacramento as a great city to live, love, laugh, and work.”

Adams said planning commission meetings have been “put on hold” because of the coronavirus crisis, “so projects that would be subject to their review could experience a delay or extended processing time period.”